Mistake
by That quirky character
Summary: Chris accidentally causes Street to get hurt, but she never makes the same mistake twice.


"There's two armed men on the upper level, pacing around the balcony. One on the far side and the other on my side." Chris said, surveying the warehouse below from her sniper position around the perimeter of the skylight. "Two by the main entrance, two by the back entrance, and four guarding the hostages." The gang leaders the team had been tracking for days had taken hostage the family members of their rivals, and now it had escalated into a situation only SWAT could handle.

Hondo's voice came over the radio. "We'll toss a flash-bang in through the window. Chris, take out the one on the far side of the balcony then drop down, Street secure the closer suspect. Everyone else focus on the suspects on the lower level and keeping the hostages safe. Fill the gaps, stay liquid."

On Hondo's signal she broke the glass with a single shot and then took out the suspect just as the flash-bang disoriented the entire group, quickly gauging the distance and dropping down from the skylight onto the balcony and then down the stairs onto the main floor. Luca had breached the main entrance with black betty and he and Tan were taking down the two suspects who had been by the door.

But the element of surprise was waning, and Hondo and Deacon who were racing towards the group by the hostages, quickly tailed by Luca and Tan, were already getting shot at.

Knowing the rest of the team had to focus on securing the hostages, Chris went for the two suspects in the back, both of which were sprinting to join the rest of their group. One raised his gun at her and she shot him first, an easy target since he'd stopped running to aim at her and was wearing no bullet-proof vest. But taking him out had cost her time, and the second suspect was much closer now. In fact, she had to duck and move to the side to avoid being hit directly as the man charged at her. She took his need to reorient himself and turn around as an opportunity to slam him against the wall and attempt to disarm him.

Alarmingly, he managed to turn himself around and Chris sharply swung her head to the side to avoid being punched directly in the face. She knew how to disarm him, she'd done it a thousand times before. But whether it was the intense sunlight streaming in from above and reflecting blindingly off of the shards of broken glass from the windows and skylight, or the screams of the hostages as some members of the team evacuated them while simultaneously taking out suspects, she hesitated. Everything went blank for a long and narrow second, and when she did move, reacting on pure instinct, the slammed the gun upwards, not down before wrenching it away from him.

The gunshot rang out and she heard it perfectly clear despite the echoes of many more from the rest of the warehouse. She quickly tackled the suspect and tossed the gun aside, handcuffing the man and making sure he was tied up tightly. But that was all a blur. The only sound she heard after the gunshot was "Officer down! Street's down!" And the two were inextricably linked, despite her lack of knowledge of where Street had been and the numerous amount of rapid fire gunshots that had been going at the same time as her mistake. Her heart pounded in her ears until the pulsing drowned everything else out.

She was at Street's side in the blink of an eye, and it was only when she was there that she realized how quiet everything had become. The last of the suspects were tied up and being led by Luca and Deacon outside so the constant gunshots had fallen still. Hondo and Tan were crouched over Street, keeping him down and on the ground. "Street!" She fell on her knees next to him, shaking. Goddamn it, what had she done?

"I'm fine-" he tried to say and pushed to sit up, but she pressed him back down with a hand on his shoulders.

"Wait to be checked out by the paramedics," Chris insisted, not removing her hand.

"It's not bad, just bruises-"

"Street, there's blood on the side of your shirt."

He opened his mouth to argue but evidently decided it wasn't going to do him any good with three of his teammates all staring down at him in worry.

In the hospital waiting room half an hour later, Street was discharged with pain medications and a bandage around his wounds.

"No one made Deacon do this when he got shot twice in his vest," he grumbled."And I only got shot once."

"Appreciate it," Tan said with a mocking grin. "Soon you'll be expected to suck it up and deal with it when you get hurt worse. Everyone goes through the pampering phase as a newbie."

Street punched him on the shoulder.

Chris filed out near the tail end of the group, falling in step with Hondo, who was pouring over a copy of the hospital records for the incident report.

"Hondo?" She asked, keeping her voice low and feeling bile rise in her throat.

"What's up, Chris? Did you see anything at the warehouse? If we can find the guy who shot Street we might have fewer questions from Hicks."

"Well, that's the thing, actually. I-" She pushed down the guilt and the shame and forced herself to just speak. "I think I shot Street."

Hondo stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?" The rest of the team was walking slowly, teasing their injured teammate while simultaneously complimenting him on his takedowns of the suspects.

It's your responsibility, so fix it, she scolded herself. "I was disarming a suspect and.. I froze, Hondo. I don't know why but I hesitated and then when I did move I shoved his gun upwards to yank it away and not downwards. It went off and since Street was on the balcony…" She faltered and let her words trail off on their own.

Hondo didn't speak for a minute, even as the rest of their team went out the door. Normally Chris was good at interpreting people's actions or lack thereof, but with the pressure of guilt and wrongdoing- the whisper of incompetence gasping relentlessly in her ear- she began fidgeting nervously with the edge of her shirt and tried to explain herself further. "I don't know why it happened and I won't let it happen again, but I needed you to know."

"I won't put it in the incident report," Hondo said, his mouth setting in a determined line. Even though it's likely you're right, we have no solid proof so it's not lying. Besides, Hicks would make a big deal out of it even though we both know he wouldn't do that for another SWAT officer."

Chris nodded, recalling how Mumford had treated her the time she'd gotten hurt while partnered with him for patrol. Her actually breaking protocol, albeit on accident, would earn her even more ridicule.

What's done is done, Chris. What you do about it now is your choice."

She nodded again, feeling some of the heaviness lift off of her.

True to his word, Hicks never knew or questioned her about the incident, even though he had ample time since she stayed at headquarters the entire night. It started off with a simple, intense workout just to warm her up and keep her mind off things, then escalated. Two members of Mumford's team wanted to go a round in the ring, and so she went with them and then asked if they'd help her practice disarming a suspect.

As she'd expected, the two found it laughable but did it anyways. She was sure they enjoyed taking her down a notch in their minds, but at this point she thought she deserved the embarrassment.

The hesitation never happened again, never plagued her with indecision again. On some level she was grateful that the problem didn't seem to be recurring, but it frustrated her that she couldn't pinpoint what caused it. Fear prickled at the back of her thoughts that maybe she'd mess up again during a mission and cost one of her friends a whole lot more than just some bruises.

That mentality found her completely exhausted after several straight hours of nonstop, high intensity exercise and practice. She'd said goodnight to each of her teammates in turn, save for Street who'd been driven home immediately after the hospital visit.

Hondo had given her a concerned look when he left, and gave her a pat on the back with the warning, "Don't overwork yourself. Get some rest too."

"I will," she'd replied, but it was far from a promise.

She read over the booklets on SWAT protocols that she'd thought she'd long ago memorized and was still reading them around three in the morning, when her eyelids began to droop. She tried to force herself to stay awake but it was a losing battle.

Exhausted and finally having succumbed to sleep, she lay slumped over on the bench in the locker room with the booklet pressed into her chest.

She slept only for a brief period of time until she was suddenly shaken awake by someone with cold hands. "What?" She asked, startled and wiping her eyes until she could see clearly.

"Did you sleep here all night?" Street was grinning at her, but she could see the worry creasing in his eyes.

Knowing it was useless to deny the obvious, she said "Only since three AM."

"Chris.."

She shrugged and began to dust herself off and stand up.

"What were you doing here until three?"

She didn't answer, the guilt pressing down on her again. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice, but she still had to face the consequences of making it once.

"Let me guess," Street said, "You were working out and practicing SWAT protocols and now," he reached down and grabbed the booklet that had fallen to the floor. "You're reading about them so you don't accidentally hurt someone again."

In shock, she turned to face him. Street kept solid eye contact with her. "Don't worry, it's not what the incident report says. Hondo told me after work. He was worried about you, and thought I might want to talk to you." He have her a moment to process this, then continued. "I'm not angry with you. It was an accident and obviously," he gestured to the booklet and then to Chris herself, still looking drained and in her wrinkled uniform from yesterday, "You won't let it happen again. Besides, everyone makes a mistake sometimes, Chris."

"I know that. But I'm really sorry."

"I know. I could tell. But I'm alright now, the rest of the team's alright, and Hicks doesn't know. So no harm done, really. Although Luca might disagree because I played it up last night so he would do the dishes for once." Street's cheeky grin finally got to her and she allowed herself a smile.

"It won't happen again," she restated, more for her own confirmation than Street.

He nodded and looped an arm around her shoulder to give her a quick hug. "Come on, let's get going so that no one else knows what you were up to all night."

Chris returned the hug and stood up, feeling the guilt and shame beginning to dissipate.

"Street?" She asked, unlocking her locker.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

His dimples made an appearance as he smiled again, and Chris had learned to distinguish his grin from when he was hiding something or genuinely happy. Today she knew it was the latter.

"That's what friends are for, Chris."


End file.
